This invention relates to a spinning machine comprising several spinning stations for the spinning of slivers fed in cans into yarns and comprising drivable transport belts for conveying the slivers between the cans and the spinning stations.
In the case of a spinning machine of this type (British Patent Document GB 10 15 780), which is constructed as a ring spinning machine, a second transport belt is assigned to each transport belt. Thus, transport belt pairs are formed which each receive one sliver between the belts and transport it. The slivers are withdrawn from the cans by means of rollers arranged above them, are transported vertically downward, are conveyed below the floor to the spinning machine and are guided from there diagonally upward approximately to the machine center and farther to the drafting units. Ring spinning machines of this type have not been accepted in practice. The expenditures for the synchronous drive of the two transport belts, which have to be deflected frequently, are very high.
It is an object of the invention to improve a spinning machine of the initially mentioned type with respect to the transport belts.
This object is achieved in that the transport belts, when bridging differences in height, are arranged with respect to the horizontal line in such a sloped manner that the slivers rest on the transport belts because of their own weight.
When vertical transport paths are avoided and the slope of the transport belt is not made to be excessive, no additional devices are required which press the sliver to be transported against the pertaining transport belt. This is possible particularly when the space requirement for the setting-up of the cans is not too important.
In the case of a corresponding selection of the angle of slope, fine slivers, thus slivers of sizes from Nm 0.3 to 0.8, may also be transported by means of the transport belt without any risk of faulty drafts during the transport. It is therefore possible to do without the machine, specifically the flyer, which is normally connected in front of the ring spinning machine. Furthermore, such fine slivers make it possible to obtain higher yarn qualities than previously possible. In addition, these fine slivers permit the use of three-cylinder drafting units which are generally customary without the need to carry out significant constructive changes on the three-cylinder drafting units.
The expenditures may be further reduced when the width of the transport belts is designed for several slivers arranged next to one another. By means of relatively wide transport belts, it is possible to jointly transport per transport belt, for example, eight or sixteen slivers.
Problems occur mainly with the respective outer slivers since, because of the always existing air movements, there is the danger that the slivers may be deflected laterally. The danger of the lateral deflections exists particularly because the slivers adhere to the pertaining transport belt virtually only because of their own weight. In a further development of the invention, it is therefore provided that the slivers are protected from laterally leaving the transport belts.
This type of a protection can be achieved by means of different further developments:
For example, it is possible to leave a larger safety distance between the slivers and the edges of the transport belts. The slivers are therefore advantageously constructed to be so wide that such a large distance will still exist from the edge of the transport belt that lateral movements do not result in the slivers falling off the transport belts.
In a particularly advantageous development, it may be provided that at least partially lateral deflections are assigned to the transport belts. The transport belts are therefore virtually embedded in a protective covering which keeps disturbing air movements away from the slivers so that the danger of lateral deflections of the slivers is reduced. In addition, the coverings may provide a centering of the slivers on the pertaining transport belt.
In the case of another development of the invention, a protection against damaging lateral air movements as well as a centering of the slivers on the transport belt can be achieved by the fact that the transport belts have a trough-shaped cross-section at least on part of their transport path.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.